Sealed bearings or greasable bearings on blade guides

[fathead]

I am using 19 inch bandwheels with 1 1/4 blades does  any of the forum members have a preference between sealed bearings or greaseable bearing on the guide rollers? thanks Fathead.

[york]

Hey Bob,go for the grease-able guides and get a good grease gun,too.
albert

[tcsmpsi]

Never had sealed bearings for that application.  I can naught conceive of not being able add grease to the roller bearings regularly.  They take a lot hard use and heat.

[petefrom bearswamp]

Sealed bearings on my LT40shdd51 have 500 hrs no problems so far.
Pete

[ladylake]

Greasable is way better, might get by with sealed if using diesel for lube.  Steve

[SAWMILL BUDDY]

I got 1150 hours on my lt40 before the first guide bearing went out. I squirt some ATF on the back side of each guide bearing each day. Don't know if it helps or not but it can't hurt.

[Jim H]

I always had greasable bearings until I got this mill and I fully expected that I would change them out for greasable ones at the first sign of trouble, but I got 2500hrs out of the moveable side and the fixed side is still good at 2650 so far. That's at least twice as long as I thought they would last, and they change out in 5-10 min. They do get hard use but they never got hot to the touch until the first set went out. So I'd say use which ever you want, but I like the sealed ones.

[Bibbyman]

We've worn out more than a few sets of blade guide rollers on our LT40 that have had sealed bearings.   The bearings have been in good shape.  In the "old days" when they had zerks,  it was common to for the bearing to go before the guide was worn out.



 

The old guide was 1/10" smaller in diameter than the new.  Bearings still good.

Make mine without zerts.

[Chuck White]

I changed my blade guide rollers last winter when the mill was parked in the garage.
I now have the sealed bearings and they seem to be doing good.  I'm still not used to the fact they don't get greased!  :-\  I'd give the old ones 1 shot of grease every 4 hours, and they were still tight as new when I sold them.

I was a little skeptical about the sealed bearings at first, but I'm getting over it. ;)

[drobertson]

Sealed bearings on my lt 40 spr. I have to change the moveable side about every three to four months. hours very, I shut down probably more through the day than most might.  I am at 3/4millon bd/ft with 2150 hrs.  This has been mostly a one man operation. the days I have had off bearers the footage goes up. This being said, I have thought about going to the greasable one too.  At least the moveable side, lots of coolant going on.
A local distributor has the R8 2RS bearing for 4.15 each, I keep a small supply on hand. It is a 20 minute fix for me.

[Peter Drouin]

Me too ,I where them out before the bearing gos out, all sealed bearings :D I buy them from WM by the box full :D :D :D

[WH_Conley]

Started out greasable. Went sealed and haven't looked back.

[pineywoods]

I have used both, but the advantage goes to the sealed bearings. Pumping grease into the bearing blows out the seal, the water from the lube finishes them off. Plus, regular old grease don't work very well in a high-speed bearing. Ever calculate the rpm those rollers turn ??

[Ga Mtn Man]

Me too ,I where them out before the bearing gos out, all sealed bearings :D I buy them from WM by the box full :D :D :D

Bearings or guide rollers by the box full?  ???

[bandmiller2]

Good sealed bearings will last,hong kong harry brand mayby.basically your belt tensioner on your truck uses the same bearings and many will do over 100,000 miles.For the few bucks the bearings cost I'll stick with sealed. Frank C.

[customsawyer]

Sealed. They last longer and require less maintenance.

[thecfarm]

I don't do alot of sawing but mine are sealed.

[isawlogs]

 Mine where greasable when I bought my mill. I changed that over to sealed as soon as they wore out. Then a few years after they where being sold with the sealed bearings. 

[fathead]

Very interesting, I would have thought the greaseable ones would have wore a lot longer.Keeping the contaminates out most play a big part in the life of them. It is great to be able to pull on the experience of you guys. I am making a lot of progress on my mill I am going to ask my boy to help me post some pics thanks for all the advice.s

[drobertson]

This is almost making me rething, I have redressed my rollers only once, the moveable side had close to .030 wear front to back, the fixed side inside .010 but worn on the flange side.  I have changed the fixed side twice, and the moveable side 4 times mostly just the front bearing.  I know I need a new felt bob. This said it is cutting great, no sign of misalignment.  so how can some of you folks get 2500 hrs on one set of bearing?  just asking,

[Bandmill Bandit]

I havent replaced mine so far in just over 500 hrs. Mine are sealed at this point and I dont think I will swap over to zerks when they do go. Not exactly sure on this but those apear to be a 6204s (someone correct me if I am off a few numbers)

I know when I go to BC Bearing here in Alberta they want to know speed, temp and chemical/moisture environment for the bearing and I get the the hi temp hi speed ones for a few other apps that use that bearing The price is a fair bit higher for them but they do last a LOT longer in the high speed high temp, high thrust application bearings than the basic normal use idler type application.

There is a slighty wider "double race" high thrust high speed bearing in that size too. has almost 3 X as many rollers in 2 rows instead of one and has significantly better thrust and cooling specs.  Wonder how it would A) fit and B) wear? Think it is about 3/16 wider but I would have to measure to be sure.   

[Brucer]

2100 hours with sealed bearings.

[Migal]

Mine are greasable and just out of habit I grease, so far so good I have three bearing's that require grease every two hours I'm not a high production operation so I probably over grease if thats possible but it does keep me professional in front of customer's while greasing I also check the mill out, for this and that's and get a break!  8) http://www.ehow.com/facts_7766563_greasable-vs-sealed-bearings.html

[Al_Smith]

Just some info .On high speed precision CNC type metal cutting machinery on a rebuild most use sealed bearing .They remove the bearing seals ,wash out every bit of lube then repack the bearing .Then blow every bit of it out with compressed air .Sounds stupid but here's the catch .That bearing will never pick up any more lubrication except that which clings to the balls in the bearing .

They then replace the seal and continue to rebuild the component .Now this type machinery will make millions of precision cuts to micron tolerances before it needs rebuilt again .For those who don't know a micron is 1/1000 of a millimeter .---bearing trivia ---

[bandmiller2]

Al brings up a good point the only usefull grease is whats in the bearing.Many folks pack grease everywhere and say the bearing will pull it in, not so.Really if bearings could run in light oil just dipping their feet in it their most happy.Grease is a default lubricant not as good as oil but will stay put and is better than nothing. Frank C.